West Pointe
A public hearing for the re-designation of a 1.53 acre parcel of land in the community of West Pointe drew some concern from area residents.
Developer Kent Hystad is seeking to re-designate the parcel located at 252 Quigley Drive to low-density residential (R-2) from its current high-density multi-unit dwelling designation (R-M).
The R-M designation would allow for up to 90 units on the site and two previous applications were made since the 2005 subdivision, where both withdrew before a decision could be made.
The current application is for five buildings with a total of 10 units.
Three area residents spoke up at the public hearing and brought up such concerns as increased traffic in the area and a possible lack of berm protection.
The matter will be back before council for final readings May 23.
No Soup For You
It was a win for 11-year-old Belle Levisky.
The Grade 6 Mitford Middle School student won Mayor Ivan Brooker and councillors over with her delegation at council to request the ban of shark fin soup and promoting public education over other products containing shark fin material in the Town of Cochrane.
Levisky is the founder of 7 Fins Forever, a foundation established to “educate people on the importance of protecting sharks from finning and to save sharks from extinction.”
Council voted 6-1 in favour of directing administration to draft a bylaw that would make Cochrane the 18th community in Canada to pass such a bylaw in support of the vulnerable species.
Coun. Morgan Nagel applauded Levisky’s efforts and presentation, noting he was only voting in opposition as a technicality – as he felt it was out of the town’s jurisdiction to pass a bylaw that could be overturned if appealed, given that importation of shark meat and products would be of federal jurisdiction.
Nagel was more in favour of the town writing a letter to the federal government to indicate support for a federal ban on the products – which the town will also undertake.
The strength in numbers approach was believed by remaining councillors and a choked-up Mayor Ivan Brooker to “send a message” to the federal government, highlighted by Coun. Jeff Toews.
“I’ve been doing research on sharks for three years … I’ve swam with sharks,” said Levisky, highlighting shark factoids in her presentation: 75 to 100 million sharks are slaughtered for their fins annually and that sharks are on the red list and flagged as vulnerable, on their way to extinction.
Levisky said the message hits home, as sharks act as ocean vacuums by eating sick fish that would otherwise damage coral reefs and result in an overabundance of “takeover” of algae – which would inevitably effect the entire planet, including Cochrane.
Financials
Council approved an additional $270,000 in assessed growth revenues be placed in operating reserves, bringing the total assessed growth to 3.6 per cent for 2017, up from the originally forecasted 2.5 per cent.
The average property tax increase remains at 0.83 per cent; residential properties had an average 3.6 per cent decrease in assessed values.
Total Community Revitalization Levy revenues for this year are $1,027,840.
Net cost of operations is $24,118,598 for 2017.
Ten-Year Financial Strategy Update
Coun. Morgan Nagel was the sole vote in opposition to directing administration to include a cultural hub scope in the 2018 budget.
Nagel felt it was “not the right time” to explore an arts/cultural project, given the debt incurred by the aquatic centre/multisport complex and the roads congestion.
Council approved a $1.4 million redirection of 2011 MSI capital grant funds be approved to the aquatic/multisport facility from the police station.
The province will lease a portion of the new municipal RCMP station to be built in Heartland for non-municipal policing forces.
There has been an overall increase of $58 million for capital spending for the 2017-2026 ten-year strategy, with $39 million more for transportation projects.
See cochrane.ca to learn further details on major changes to the 10-year plan.
